Taggart Design Group creates an architectural work of art that also highlights the home’s natural surroundings

Burt Taggart, Jr. approaches a new home’s design much the way an artist approaches a blank canvas. “For me it always starts with walking the land and letting the land suggest how it should be developed,” says the celebrated central Arkansas architect who co-owns Taggart Design Group with his son, Burt Taggart, III.

When it came to Patricia and Barry Solomon’s Little Rock home, the process was no different. Taggart considered the site and how the home would impact it for years to come, along with the Solomon’s love of color, their taste in art and perhaps most importantly, their former residence. “The Solomon’s previous home was also modern, filled with color and had an orientation toward their pool,” says Taggart. These were all features the couple liked and wanted to recreate in the design of their new home. As Taggart began to work, what evolved was a concept with a long-winding road that leads to the home’s private façade. From there, guests are slowly introduced to the structure’s soul through the minimal landscaping, round curvature of the exterior and the water features, which appear as you approach the home’s front entry. Additionally, the wooden plank ceiling, which begins at the front entry, carries through to the home’s interior and the same walkway you see at the front of the home is carried over to the back patio. The combination of these small context clues prepares you for the home’s interior and its outlook as you move through the entry.

While the front exterior may have a subtle, somber presence, the ambience of the home changes quickly as your enter it. “When you open the front door, the view explodes,” says Taggart enthusiastically. “It’s basically a glass box,” he says of the home’s back wall. The structure was built to wrap around the pool at a 45-degree angle, and because of the land’s natural rise and fall, you are 12-15 feet off the ground at any given time, meaning your sight line lies directly in the trees. The effect is reminiscent of a tree house. Rooms throughout the home’s interior include large glass windows to take advantage of the multiple viewpoints. “Some views from inside the home are intimate and more encapsulated, like the one from the tub in the master bath,” says Taggart. However, the public areas of the home feature vast views that are more open and constantly evolving following the pattern of the seasons—making them very private in the summer’s lush foliage and more airy in the winter months. “When a house lives with a strong indoor-outdoor presence, nature becomes the best art,” notes Taggart.

With the structure’s overall design and orientation focused on the exterior environment, it’s important to note the interiors were not an afterthought. In both the common and more private areas of the home, the Solomon’s love of color came into play through the use of bright tile, accent walls and art. The dining room, living room and library were designed to function as one linear space. The fireplace separates the living area from the library, but the flow is seemingly uninterrupted thanks in part to wood flooring and a plank ceiling that are both continuous throughout the rooms. In the living area, a purple accent wall adds bold color along with pieces from the Solomon’s art collection.

In the kitchen and dining area, the palette is an artistic blend of wood and white. The cabinetry throughout the home is riff-cut oak with a vertical grain to complement the design’s clean lines and horizontal concept. The Solomons both love to cook, so Taggart spent a good deal of time designing and redesigning the kitchen to make it perfect for the couple’s needs and style. “It’s very non-traditional in the sense that your view is almost 360 degrees throughout the space. Because it was so open, I wanted it to be pretty as well as functional,” says the architect.

The same practical, yet aesthetically pleasing concept was applied to the master bath, which features his and her sides with two vanities that are opposite one another. Patricia’s side has a soaking tub accented by a shimmering mosaic backsplash, while Barry’s side offers a walk-in shower. Sandblasted ribbons along the windows allow plenty of natural light into the space without sacrificing privacy in the shower.

When the two-and-a-half year project came to completion, Taggart looked back to reflect on the experience. “When you pour as much of your life into a house as we did this one, you cannot leave the experience without thinking of friendship—and being happy to give them exactly what was right for them,” he says of his clients and friends the Solomons. “That is the reward of designing custom houses—helping a couple accomplish their dream house.”

An extensive hot water heater leak turned out to be a blessing in disguise for this Little Rock home. “The master bath—which had been last updated in the 1980s—wasn’t too bad,” says designer Meridith Hamilton of MLH Designs, “but it didn’t fit well with the contemporary style of the rest of the home.”

When the homeowner returned from a business trip to find water damage, she took the opportunity to update the space. Her demanding work and travel schedule inspired the room’s spa-like feel. “She needed a place to relax at the end of the day,” says Hamilton, who worked the adjoining bedroom’s blues and grays into the room’s serene color scheme.

Possibly the biggest change came from repositioning the tub and vanities. “Before, the tub jutted out into the center of the room with the vanities enclosed on either side,” recalls Hamilton. “It made the room seem very crowded.” She opened up the space by merging the two vanities into one and running the tub along the same wall. The sleek, dark-stained maple used on the custom cabinetry wraps around the modern rectangular tub, and the vanity’s Cambria countertop continues along the tub surround. A mosaic accent tile made of marble along with honed and polished glass was taken up to the crown moulding behind the vanity and around the tub.

On the other side of the room, a new steam shower took the place of the previous one. “It would have been too cost-prohibitive to move the shower fixtures and the water closet, so they remained,” explains Hamilton. At the homeowner’s request, an additional rainhead shower faucet was added to the ceiling. A niche was cut into the mosaic tile wall to hold soaps and bottles, and a granite bench provides a spot to rest during a steam. Hamilton had the large porcelain floor tiles cut down to 4-x-6-inch subway size to use in the shower stall.

“The room’s ultra-sleek finishes could have felt stark or cold, so I wanted to add some organic elements,” she says of dressing the room in natural accessories. The gray silk roman shade adds a feminine texture, while a white cowhide is painted with metallic silver in a zebra stripe. Leather buckets hold fresh towels, and a commissioned piece by Maumelle artist Buddy Whitlock warms up the tub area. “The homeowner and I both love the addition of champagne gold that it added,” says Hamilton.

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